Aureliano in Palmira

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Opera dates
Original title: Aureliano in Palmira
Title page of the libretto, Milan 1814

Title page of the libretto, Milan 1814

Shape: Dramma serio in two acts
Original language: Italian
Music: Gioachino Rossini
Libretto : Felice Romani
Literary source: Gaetano Sertor
Premiere: December 26, 1813
Place of premiere: Milan, Teatro alla Scala
Playing time: approx. 2 ½ hours
Place and time of the action: Palmyra and Surroundings, A.D. 272
people
  • Aureliano , Roman Emperor ( tenor )
  • Zenobia , Queen of Palmyra , mistress of Arsace ( soprano )
  • Arsace, Prince of Persia ( old , castrato )
  • Publia, daughter of Valeriano , secretly in love with Arsace ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Oraspe, Palmyric General (tenor)
  • Licinio, tribune ( bass )
  • High Priest of Isis (Bass)
  • Priests, Palmyrian girls, Palmyrian, Persian and Roman warriors, shepherds and shepherd girls ( choir )
  • Palmyric, Persian and Roman soldiers

Aureliano in Palmira is an opera (original name: "dramma serio") in two acts by Gioachino Rossini ( music ) with a libretto by Felice Romani . It premiered on December 26, 1813 at La Scala in Milan .

action

The Palmyric Empire of Queen Zenobia is conquered by the Roman Emperor Aureliano . Zenobia loves the Persian prince Arsace, who is also her comrade in arms. Aureliano is fascinated by her, arrests Arsace and tries in vain to win her over by threatening him. Arsace escapes, but is arrested again with Zenobia. Aureliano's confidante Publia has fallen in love with Arsace and asks for mercy for him. Aureliano generously pardons them both.

“Aureliano Imperatore, presa Antioch, e liberata Publia figlia di Valeriano dalle mani di Odenato, mosse guerra a Zenobia Regina di Palmira tanto in que 'giorni potent, ed acerrima nemica de' Romani. Dopo varie vicende la sfortunata Regina fu vinta, fatta prigioniera, e portata a Roma in catene. Su this fatto Istorico è fondato il presente Dramma. L'Autore si è servito di tutte le libertà che si accordano ai Poeti Drammatici per render più teatrale l'intreccio, ma non si è discostato un momento dal verosimile. ”

“After the Emperor Aurelian had freed the daughter of Valerian from Odaenathus at Antioch Publia, he fought against Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, who in those days was a powerful and bitter enemy of the Romans. After various vicissitudes, the unfortunate queen was defeated, captured and brought to Rome in chains. The present drama is based on this historical fact. The author has used all the liberties that dramatic poets are allowed to make the plot more dramatic, but he never deviated from the probability for a moment. "

- Preface to the libretto, Milan 1814

While Aureliano and Zenobia have historical models, the figure of Arsace is fictional. Aureliano's generosity at the end of the opera also has no historical basis and is due to the wish for a happy ending.

first act

Paulo Landriani: stage design for the first act, Milan, 1813

Large temple of Isis with a statue of the same

Scene 1. The high priest and choirs of priests, virgins and warriors make a sacrifice and pray to Isis for help against the Romans who threaten the land.

Scene 2. The Palmyric Queen Zenobia and the Persian Prince Arsace affirm their love and military alliance.

Scene 3. The Palmyric general Oraspe announces the arrival of Emperor Aureliano and his army on the banks of the Euphrates . The city is in immediate danger. Arsace rushes to battle while Zenobia remains in Palmyra to defend.

Scene 4. The high priest promises that even if the city goes under, Arsace's glory will last forever.

Wide chaotic battlefield. In the background you can see the Euphrates and the city of Palmyra.

Scene 5. The Persians have been defeated and the choir of Roman soldiers praises the victorious emperor. Aureliano thanks them and then sings about his mighty fatherland.

Scene 6. The captured Arsace and Aureliano meet. There is an argument. Arsace is being led away.

Scene 7. The Roman tribune Licinio celebrates the glory of Rome and Zenobia's defeat.

The inside of a magnificent hall that opens to the right and left

Scene 8. Aureliano informs his confidante Publia that he would release Arsace and let him continue to rule his realm if he broke away from Zenobia. Licinio announces the arrival of Zenobia's General Oraspe. He asks Aureliano for an audience for Zenobia, which is granted to her. Oraspe and Licinio leave again.

Scene 9. Zenobia enters the hall with her entourage and a cart full of presents. Choirs of Roman soldiers and Palmyren girls express their hope for peace. Zenobia asks the emperor in vain to release Arsace. Aureliano is fascinated by Zenobia's beauty, but is not impressed by her gifts or threats of war. Instead, he offers to release the prisoners, including Arsace, if she submits to him. Zenobia is horrified. Although the prisoners' choir begs her to obey his request, she remains steadfast. Zenobia says goodbye to the prisoners while they ask heaven for mercy. Everyone goes except Aureliano and Publia.

Scene 10. Aureliano tells Publia how impressed he is with Zenobia's steadfastness and beauty. Both hope that Arsace's misfortune can make them give up their pride. Aureliano is leaving.

Scene 11. Publia is secretly in love with Arsace. She hopes Zenobia will give in and become Aureliano's lover, because then Arsace would be free for herself.

The inside of an old castle that serves as a prison for Arsace

Scene 12. Arsace laments his fate and the loss of Zenobia.

Scene 13. Zenobia enters the cell. She and Arsace promise each other their love.

Scene 14. Aureliano arrives with some guards. He lets Arsace's shackles loosened, but demands that he give up Zenobia. When Arsace refuses, Aureliano sentences him to death. In the trio that follows, Aureliano struggles with his conflicting feelings of anger and love, while Zenobia and Arsace rely on their love.

Last scene. While the choir of the Romans calls for the next battle against Zenobia's troops, Arsace says goodbye. Meanwhile, Aureliano burns with a thirst for revenge. Everyone rushes to fight.

Second act

Paulo Landriani: stage design for the second act, Milan, 1813

Spacious underground treasury of Zenobia with a winding staircase and further entrances

Scene 1. The Palmyrene Army was defeated. A chorus of girls and nobles laments the Palmyras case.

Scene 2. Zenobia appears without a headdress and joins the lamentation. In a single day all of Asia fell to the Romans. For those present, only death remains as the only hope.

Scene 3. Aureliano comes and brags that Zenobia's shame is now known everywhere. Zenobia contradicts: Palmyra and Asia are indeed subjugated, but their greatest opponent, their stability, has not yet been tamed. In the following duet, Aureliano tries in vain to persuade Zenobia to give in.

Scene 4. Publia and Licinio bring news of Arsace's escape. Oraspe attacked the dungeon and freed it. Aureliano is certain that he will be arrested again soon.

Graceful hill on the banks of the Euphrates. In the distance some mountains with waterfalls. Shepherds huts

Scene 5. Shepherds sing about their joy that they were spared the war in their poverty. They withdraw.

Scene 6. Arsace appears and enjoys the peaceful landscape.

Scene 7. The shepherds return. One of them approaches Arsace and asks for news from Palmyra. He tells of the defeat and reveals himself. The shepherds offer him refuge.

Scene 8. Oraspe has raised an army of Palmyrenian and Persian soldiers to support Arsace against the Romans.

Entrance hall of the palace captured by the victors

Scene 9. Publia points out to Aureliano that Arsace is building a new army. Aureliano doesn't think they pose any great danger. His thoughts are primarily with Zenobia.

Scene 10. Aureliano offers Zenobia to join him in ruling over the Roman Empire. Licinio informs him that Arsace's rebellion is supported by the people and that his troops have already entered the city.

Scene 11. Publia warns Zenobia of Aureliano's anger. When she hears the noise of the war, she flees.

Scene 12. Oraspe tells Zenobia how the fight was going and advises her to flee because the outcome is uncertain.

A secluded place near the palace. Night, moonlight

Scene 13. After the uprising is put down, Arsace laments his defeat. Zenobia and Oraspe join them. Oraspe urges Arsace to follow him to save himself. Arsace and Zenobia are so happy to see them again that they hesitate ...

Scene 14. ... and being arrested by Aureliano and sentenced to life in separate prison.

Lobby as before

Scene 15. Publia laments the fate of Arsace, who she still loves. She wants to try to save him.

Scene 16. Aureliano arrives with a large retinue. Publia throws herself at his feet and asks for mercy for Arsace. Licinio also brings petitions for mercy from the Palmyrenian nobles.

Last scene. The greats of the empire submit to Aureliano. He has his prisoners Arsace, Zenobia and Oraspe brought and shows himself to be generous. If they swear eternal allegiance to Rome, they will be released and reinstated in their offices. Zenobia and Arsace gratefully accept. From now on they are friends of Rome.

layout

Although the commission for Aureliano in Palmira came from La Scala in Milan and the opera has a heroic theme, it is actually a chamber opera . The military and heroic elements are only shown in stylized form. Richard Osborne described the music in his Rossini biography as follows: “Aureliano in Palmira is full of treasures: a gentle pastoral tone, a tiny chorus rich in pathos, which was adopted from the unfortunate Tancredi rework for Ferrara, and various happy ideas, like the overture […] ”Particularly noteworthy are the Aureliano's Cavatine, accompanied by an obbligato horn, in the fifth scene of the first act (“ Cara patria! Il mondo trema ”), the prison scene of Arsace in the twelfth scene of the first act and his own Scenes on the banks of the Euphrates with the shepherd's choir (“O care selve, o care”) in the second act from the fifth scene and the first duet of the lovers Zenobia and Arsace in the thirteenth scene of the second act (“Mille sospiri e lagrime”).

The chorus in the ninth scene of the first act, in which the prisoners beg Zenobia to hear Aureliano, comes from the finale of the revised version of Tancredi , which Rossini had written for a performance in Ferrara.

Rossini used the overture again in 1815 in Elisabetta regina d'Inghilterra and in 1816 in Il barbiere di Siviglia . However, it was probably originally composed for L'equivoco stravagante as early as 1811 . Rossini also used Arsace's Rondo at the end of the seventh scene of the second act (“No! Non posso al mio tesoro”) in these operas for the performance aria of Elisabetta (“Questo cor ben lo comprende”) and the Cavatine of Rosina (“Una voce poco fa "). The first eight bars of the opening choir (“Sposa del grande Osiride”, in Almaviva's “Ecco ridente in cielo”) as well as parts of the introduction to Zenobias and Arsace's duet (at the beginning of Basilio's “La calunnia”) appear in Il barbiere di Siviglia .

Work history

The librettist Felice Romani (sometimes incorrectly given as Gian Francesco Romanelli) designed the libretto for Aureliano in Palmira based on an older text by Gaetano Sertor , which had written this opera Zenobia in Palmira , which was performed for Pasquale Anfossis in Venice in 1789 .

Rossini received a wage of eight hundred francs for the order from La Scala in Milan . At the premiere on December 26, 1813, the tenor Luigi Mari (Aureliano), the soprano Lourença Nunes Correia (Zenobia), the old castrato Giovanni Battista Velluti (Arsace), the mezzo-soprano Luigia Sorrentini (Publia), the tenor Gaetano Pozzi ( Oraspe) and the basses Pietro Vasoli (Licinio) and Vincenzo Botticelli (high priest). Between the two acts, the ballet Arsinoe e Telemaco by Wenzel Robert von Gallenberg was performed, followed by the ballet I minatori valacchi. The choreography of both ballets came from Gaetano Gioia.

Giovanni Battista Velluti was the last of the great castrati singers. His role as Arsace is Rossini's only castrato role. The then famous tenor Giovanni David was originally planned for the role of Aureliano, but he fell ill with measles and was replaced by the less talented Luigi Mari. This change is noticeable in the different degrees of difficulty of the vocal lines in this role in the first and second acts.

The premiere was not a great success. According to the Giornale italiano , this was due to the singers. The Allgemeine musical Zeitung also did not blame the music, but rather missed the “inner life force”. The Corriere milanese described the opera as boring and the performance as extremely sluggish. Even so, it was given fourteen times this season.

In the following decade the opera was performed in about thirty opera houses - mainly in Italian cities, for example in 1830 at the opening of the new Teatro Metastasio in Prato, but also in Barcelona in 1822, in Lisbon in 1824 and 1832, in Corfu in 1825, in London in 1826, in 1827 in German language in Graz and in 1829 in Buenos Aires.

More recently, the opera was only performed again in September 1980 at the Teatro Politeama in Genoa under the direction of Giacomo Zani . There were other productions in 1996 at the Festival Rossini in Wildbad , 2011 in Martina Franca and in 2014 at the Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro . Recordings of all these performances were published on CD or DVD.

Recordings

Web links

Commons : Aureliano in Palmira  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Richard Osborne: Rossini - life and work. Translated from the English by Grete Wehmeyer. List Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-471-78305-9
  2. ^ A b Richard Osborne:  Aureliano in Palmira. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  3. ^ A b Wilhelm Keitel , Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-8135-0364-X
  4. ↑ a b c d e Herbert Weinstock : Rossini - A biography. Translated by Kurt Michaelis. Kunzelmann, Adliswil 1981 (1968), ISBN 3-85662-009-0
  5. ^ Aureliano in Palmira (Gioachino Rossini) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna . Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  6. ↑ Work data on Aureliano in Palmira based on the MGG with discography in Operone
  7. ↑ a b c d e Gioacchino Rossini. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.
  8. ^ Rossini - Aureliano in Palmira. Review on Classic Voice (Italian) , accessed September 28, 2015.
  9. ^ Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira - Maurizio Benini. CD information at Allmusic . Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  10. ^ Rossini, G .: Aureliano in Palmira (Rossini Opera Festival, 2014). Reviews on naxos.com , accessed September 28, 2015.